Author: Dhananjay Mahapatra
Publication: The Times of India
Date: September 10, 2010
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Name-immaterial-practice-is-what-counts-for-being-a-Hindu-SC/articleshow/6526489.cms
Nearly 15 years ago the Supreme Court had
found it tough to define Hinduism and had said it was a way of life. Now,
it has found it equally difficult to crystallise who could be termed as a
Hindu.
Can a person with a Christian name be counted
as a Hindu? He can be, said the SC adopting the Shakespearian logic, "what's
there in a name", but with two caveats -- he must follow the practices
of Hinduism professed in the area and be accepted by the community as a Hindu.
This important ruling came in a case relating
to AIADMK MLA M Chandra, whose election from the Rajapalayam scheduled caste
reserved constituency was annulled by the Madras High Court faulting her for
being a Christian yet concealing the same to contest from a reserved constituency.
Accepting her arguments that she had converted
to Hinduism and had always practised Hindu rituals, a Bench comprising Justices
D K Jain and H L Dattu said that as long as she was accepted as part of the
Hindu community in the locality and there was nothing to contradict that she
had converted to Hinduism, her election could not have been set aside.
Justice Dattu, writing the judgment for the
Bench, said: "Hinduism is not a religion with one God and one Holy Scripture.
The practices vary from region to region, place to place. The Gods worshipped,
the customs, traditions, practices, rituals etc. they all differ, yet all
these people are Hindus."
"The determination of religious acceptance
of a person must not be made on his name or his birth. When a person intends
to profess Hinduism, and he does all that is required by the practices of
Hinduism in the religion or by the caste to which he belongs, and he is accepted
as a Hindu by all persons around him," the Bench said.
Quoting from the book "Facets of Hinduism"
by Swami Harshananda, Justice Dattu said: "Hinduism appears to be a very
complex religion. It is like a centre of gravity doll which always regains
its upright position however much it may be upset. Hinduism does not have
a single founder, a single book, a single church or even a single way of life."
